Sermon 233
SERMO 233
IN THE EASTER DAYS
In the present life let us labor, hoping for the future.
The faith in resurrection is unique to Christians. You heard the reading of the holy Gospel about the resurrection of Christ. In the resurrection of Christ, our faith is established. The passion of Christ was believed by pagans, impious ones, and Jews: the resurrection, only by Christians. The passion of Christ signifies the miseries of this life: the resurrection of Christ reveals the blessedness of future life. In the present, let us labor: in the future, let us hope. Now is the time for work: then, for the reward. Whoever is lazy in carrying out the work is shameless in demanding the reward. You heard what he said to his disciples after the resurrection. He sent them to preach the Gospel, and it happened: the Gospel was preached, it reached us. And behold: Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. By walking and walking, the Gospel reached us and to the ends of the earth. Briefly, he established for us, speaking to his disciples, what we should do, what we should hope for. For he said, as you heard when he was speaking: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Faith is required from us, salvation is offered: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. What is promised to us is precious, what is commanded is done freely.
Salvation promised to believers must be distinguished from temporal salvation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. For what? Were those who heard these things not saved? Do not many believe and are saved, and are saved even before they believe? Clearly, they are saved: but it is a vain salvation of men. What kind of salvation is this, which you share with your beast? However, even this itself, from where, unless from Him, of whom it is written: You will save men and beasts, O Lord? And he added: According to the multitude of your mercy, O God. For your mercy is so great that salvation comes from you to this mortal flesh of men, and comes also to the flesh of beasts. This is the multitude of your mercy. What about your sons? Behold, you will save men and beasts, O Lord. Nothing more for us? What is granted to any men, what to beasts, is this also granted to us? Certainly not this.
Christ is for us the fountain of life and salvation.
But what? Listen: But the sons of men will hope under the covering of your wings: they will be intoxicated with the abundance of your house, and you will give them drink from the torrent of your pleasure. For with you is the fountain of life. Christ is the fountain of life. We had salvation with the beasts, until the fountain of life came to us: the fountain of life came to us, and the fountain of life died for us. Will he deny his life, who dispensed his death to us? This is salvation, which is not vain. Why? Because it does not pass away.
Deceived through a man, redeemed through a man.
Men and sons of men, in what way do they differ? This distinction should be well observed: Men and beasts you will save, Lord: Men, belonging to man. However, the sons of men, belonging to the Son of Man, will hope under the shelter of your wings. Place before your eyes two men. Raise your faith, let your heart be awake: remember the man in whom we were deceived; remember the man by whom we were redeemed. Was that man the son of man? Adam was a man, he was not the son of man. Therefore, the Lord Christ consistently calls himself the son of man, to make us remember the man who was not the son of man: so that we remember in him death, in this one life; in him sin, in this one the remission of sins; in him bondage, in this one liberty; in him condemnation, in this one absolution. Therefore, these two men are signified in these words: You will save men and beasts, Lord. Men, belonging to man: and beasts, together with the beasts you will save them. For man, placed in honor, did not understand, as it is written: Man placed in honor did not understand; he has been compared to senseless beasts and has become like them. Therefore: Men and beasts, to whom men have become similar, because they did not understand, and to those over whom they were created to rule, they have been compared, you will save.
Christ dying destroyed our death.
True salvation has not been found here by Christ. Born mortal, to take it away. Is this not the salvation about which it has been said: He who believes and is baptized will be saved? That salvation is different, far different. The angels have this: do not seek it on earth. It is great, but it is not here. This is not a thing of this region, this kind of salvation is not here. Lift up your heart. Why do you seek this salvation here on earth? Salvation itself came here, and found our death here. Did our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came to us in the flesh, find this salvation here in our region? This merchant brought something great here, coming from his region: this merchant found what here abounds in our region. What abounds here? To be born and to die. The earth is full of these goods, to be born and to die. He was born, and he died. But by what way was he born? He came to this region, but not by the same way that we came. For he came from heaven from the Father. And yet he was born mortal. He was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary. Are we born thus from Adam and Eve? We through the concupiscence of the flesh, but he not through the same. For Mary the virgin, without the embrace of a man, without the heat of concupiscence; because she might not suffer this heat, it was said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the Virgin Mary did not lie with a man and conceive: but believed and conceived. He was born mortal for mortals. Why mortal? Because in the likeness of sinful flesh: not in sinful flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh. What does sinful flesh have? Death and sin. What did the likeness of sinful flesh have? Death without sin. If he had sin, he would be flesh of sin: if he did not have death, he would not be the likeness of sinful flesh. Such came, the Savior came: he died, but he killed death: he ended in himself what we feared; he took it up, and killed it; just as the best hunter captured the lion and killed it.
Death will be swallowed up in victory.
Where is death? Seek in Christ, it is no longer there: but it was, and it died there. O life, death of death! Be of good cheer, it will die in us too. What has preceded in the head will be rendered in the members: death will die in us as well. But when? At the end of the age, in the resurrection of the dead, which we believe in, and about which we do not doubt. For he who believes and is baptized will be saved. Follow what you fear: But he who does not believe will be condemned. Therefore, death will die in us, and will live in the damned. Where death will not know death, there will be eternal death: because the torments will be everlasting. In us, it will die, and it will not be. Do you want to know? I tell you a few words of the triumphant, so that you may have what to meditate on, what to sing with the heart, what to hope with all your soul, what to seek with faith and good works. Hear the words of the triumphant, when there will be no death; when in us too, as in our head, death will die. The apostle Paul says: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Then the saying which is written will come to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory. I told you that death will die in us: Death is swallowed up in victory. This is the death of death. It will be swallowed up, so that it does not appear. What does it mean, that it does not appear? That it is neither within nor without. Death is swallowed up in victory. Let the triumphant rejoice; let them rejoice, and say what follows: Where is, O death, your victory? where is, O death, your sting? Where is it? You captured, conquered, and spoke for yourself; you struck, and you killed; Where is, O death, your victory? where is, O death, your sting? Did not my Lord break it? O death, when you clung to my Lord, then you perished for me too. He who believes and is baptized will be saved by this health. But he who does not believe will be condemned. Flee condemnation, love and hope for eternal salvation.